Mobile Communication System and a Mobile Station, a Base Transceiver Station and a Method for Use Therein

1. A mobile communication system including an infrastructure having at least a first base transceiver station configured to: transmit signals to a plurality of mobile stations via a downlink, receive one or more jamming notification messages from one or more of the plurality of mobile stations reporting that a signal sent by the first base transceiver station on the downlink has been subject to interference by jamming, and responsive to receiving the one or more jamming notification messages but prior to taking any steps to avoid the reported interference, to execute a separate confirmation process to confirm that the reported interference by jamming exists on the downlink.

2. The system according to claim 1 wherein the first base transceiver station is further configured to receive at least one of the one or more jamming notification messages directly from a corresponding one of the plurality of mobile stations via an uplink channel.

3. The system according to claim 1 wherein the first base transceiver station is further configured to receive at least one of the one or more jamming notification messages directly from a corresponding one of the plurality of mobile stations via a simplex channel.

4. The system according to claim 1 wherein the first base transceiver station is further configured to receive a plurality of jamming notification messages directly from corresponding ones of the plurality of mobile stations via random access channels.

5. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the first base transceiver station is further configured to receive at least one of the one or more jamming notification messages indirectly from a corresponding one of the plurality of mobile stations via a link with a second base transceiver station.

6. The system according to claim 5 wherein of the at least one of the one or more jamming notification messages received by the first base transceiver station indirectly via the second base transceiver station is a result of the corresponding one of the plurality of mobile stations applying a cell re-selection procedure and a handover procedure to be served by the second base transceiver station prior to sending the at least one of the one or more jamming notification messages to the first base transceiver station via the second base transceiver station.

7. The system according to claim 6 wherein the second base transceiver station forwards the at least one of the one or more jamming notification messages to the first base transceiver station.

8. The system according to claim 1 wherein the confirmation process comprises determining that a minimum threshold number of jamming notification messages have been received from different mobile stations out of the plurality of mobile stations.

9. The system according to claim 1 wherein the confirmation process comprises determining that a plurality of jamming notification messages have been received from different mobile stations out of the plurality of mobile stations over a minimum interval period of time.

10. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the confirmation process comprises the first base transceiver station tuning a receiver to a downlink channel reported to be subject to interference by jamming, and determining whether a jamming signal is detected on the downlink channel.

11. The system according to claim 1 wherein the first base transceiver station is further configured, responsive to confirming that a jamming condition exists on the downlink, to report the confirmed jamming condition to a controller included within the infrastructure.

12. The system according to claim 1 wherein the first base transceiver station is further configured to change a downlink transmission frequency in response to confirming that a jamming condition exists on the downlink.

13. The system according to claim 11 wherein the first base transceiver station is further configured to change its downlink transmission frequency in response to receiving an instruction from the controller to change its downlink transmission frequency.

14. A method of detecting jamming of a downlink at a base transceiver station, the method comprising: the base transceiver station transmitting signals to a plurality of mobile stations via the downlink, the base transceiver station receiving one or more jamming notification messages from one or more of the plurality of mobile stations that a signal sent by the first base transceiver station on the downlink has been subject to interference by jamming, and responsive to receiving the one or more jamming notification messages, but prior to taking any steps to avoid the reported interference, the base transceiver station executing a confirmation process to confirm that a jamming condition exists on the downlink.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the confirmation process comprises the base transceiver station determining that a minimum threshold number of jamming notification messages have been received from different mobile stations.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the confirmation process comprises the base transceiver station determining that a plurality of jamming notification messages have been received from different mobile stations over a minimum interval of time.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein the confirmation process comprises the base transceiver station tuning a receiver to a downlink channel reported to be subject to interference by jamming, and determining whether a jamming signal is detected on the downlink channel.

18. A mobile station for communicating with an infrastructure including at least one base transceiver station, the mobile station configured to: receive signals from the base transceiver station via a downlink; detect possible interference by jamming on the downlink; generate a notification message for transmission to the first base transceiver station reporting the detected possible interference by jamming on the downlink; and determine whether one of an uplink channel and a simplex channel is available to directly send the generated notification message to the first base transceiver station, and if so, transmit the generated notification message to the first base transceiver station via the one of the uplink channel and the simplex channel.

19. The mobile station of claim 18 , further configured to: select and handover service to a second base transceiver station different from the first base transceiver station; and send the generated notification message to the first base transceiver station via the second base transceiver station.